keakap wrote:... I almost wish I hadn't gotten out the Manual, 'cause I see in it notes to self at some of the adjustments (like guides!) saying "could not get". Has to do with depth of cut being not 6" but a little more than 5. And stuff like that.
And now I put on the new wheels, and new 1/2" blade, and almost nothing lines up ...
Amazing to see how much fatter the black tires are than the urethane, how irregular that thickness, and how they are not glued to the wheels. ...
Btw, tires so fat the blade doesn't come close to the center of the lower guide bearing, and blade rubs on upper guide block housing-with (square) block removed.
This outta be fu--, uh, that is, interesting.......
1) adj's I "could not get"; "depth of cut 5" not 6; "nothing lines up;----
ALL attributable to one thing. When new I went thru all the adjustments. One I could not get was the post lateral position. This cause the post to hit the casting when at top, not allowing more than a 5" depth of cut. The best I got was to center the blade on the guide bearings. The old tire and the new urethane were about same thickness, so when changed the post adj was not a factor.
But the new tires are fatter. Enough to bother me (blade not on center of bearing).
I went to the post adjust (lateral) and DISCOVered that I'd been timid with the original try, on the NEW machine, and a small burr on the casting stopped travel of the block, until I loosened the bolts a wee tad more and the block "popped" loose and slid to the right, plenty enough to get the adjustments anywhere I want them, AND gave me, for the first time, a full 6" cut!
-- turns out the tires ARE glued to the wheels. Fairly well done on the bottom. Relief. But what made me think they weren't glued on was the top. A quick look showed some bulging spots around the circumference while turning by hand. Poking, pushing and pecking at the tire to see whassup revealed some big (as in beeg!) blobs o glue causing the lumps, and there were some glue-starved areas which allowed the tire to be pulled up (like peeking under the cover). But it was, technically, glued. And it appears to be done well enough to prevent sliding. So I'll remove the lumps- only- and go on.
As for the variable thickness, some R ampant S peculation is in order. Staring straight at the rim- from the front of the saw- (I can take pics) - while hand turning one sees the tire has narrow areas (waist like). Looking at the side of the wheel there appear to be "thin" spots in the tire thickness (sitting here now I'm uncertain if they correspond to the "waists"; I assume so).
'R-S' : when the glue was applied and the tire stretched onto the rim- with the aid of 2 or 3 clamps, whose indentations are still showing in the rubber- it was not stretched uniformally, thus the "waists". Maybe the glue was setting up too quickly?
The bottom wheel gets a quicker leaner look. I don't consider it as critical, for one thing, and I'm tired of bending over to look at it, for another. It seems to be okay 'nuf.
I repeat, I don't consider the new parts to be a problem at all. I'll tweak 'em, maybe, out of sheer nit-pickedness, but I consider them my Shiny New Standards. The lumps and stuff-- no big thing, cosmetic, yada yada.
I also got a set of the original blocks. They go in soooo easy, line up soooo easy. I'll retain the Cool Blocks for the very small blades. I never really had a problem with the originals except for the wee bitty blades, anyhoo.
Other adjustments went smoothly (some almost by themselves).
My lesson learned (again) : when I get ready to do adjustments, it will be with all necessary tools at hand (one of which will be a file), and I will start by loosening up EVERYthing until it moves from top to bottom and side to side freely. "Tweak" will be erased from my Shop Smith lexicon.